Thompson Ayodele, the executive director of the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis, IPPA, has called on the Federal Government to enforce its laws on tobacco production, marketing and consumption in the country.
Ayodele, who made the call on Monday in a statement, said it was wrong to blame industry players for the non-implementation of the tobacco law.
He recalled that Nigeria recently celebrated the 2017 World No Tobacco Day with the theme “Tobacco-A Threat to Development.”
He said Nigeria had made a substantial progress with the enactment and passage of National Tobacco Control Act, NTCA, 2015.
“ This Act is a customised version of the 2005 WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, FCTC, which is aimed at addressing the perceived concerns relating to production and marketing of tobacco products.
“The passage and signing of the NTCA presents a far-reaching step to ensure a balanced and fair way to address whatever concerns remain in the production and sales of tobacco products in Nigeria.
“The implementation of the Act is within the ambit of the executive branch to enforce whatever regulations that are contained in the bill.
“ It is ironic that rather than liaising with the appropriate organ of government to understand the non-implementation of NTCA, anti-tobacco groups are now blaming the same industry for its non-implementation.’’
He however added that the slogan, World No Tobacco Day, was at variance with the realities and people’s preference to any product not just to tobacco but to other products.
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